Provo Mayor Marsha Judkins is working to revive the city’s long-running rooftop concert series this summer, hoping to bring live music back to downtown Provo to rekindle a tradition that once brought thousands of residents together.
On the first Friday of each month from 2009 to 2019, the free concert series brought together local favorites like The Rubies and The Moth & The Flame alongside nationally known bands such as Imagine Dragons and The Backseat Lovers.
What started on a downtown parking garage roof grew into a beloved Provo tradition, eventually filling Nu Skin Plaza and spilling crowds onto Center Street.
“There have been some priceless, magical moments on our stage,” Sarah Wiley, Rooftop Concert Series CEO, said. “We’ve showcased and been edified by the enormous artistic talent in this city.”
The rooftop concerts came to an end in 2019 as the growing series struggled to secure sufficient sponsorship and financial support, but newly elected Mayor Marsha Judkins has made reviving the concerts a key part of her efforts to strengthen the community in Provo.
“Provo is such a diverse and amazing community. We have so much talent and so much untapped energy that we can bring to events like this,” Judkins said.
In the past, sponsors of the rooftop concerts included Provo City, Nu Skin, Central Bank, Utah Valley University and even Coca-Cola.
“(These concerts) take a whole community, and it takes people being willing to sacrifice a lot of time, effort, energy and resources to be able to put this together,” Judkins said.
The mayor and her team are currently working to secure partnerships with new sponsors in preparation for the concerts’ comeback this summer.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to reinvest in the community, bring people to Provo, and show people that Provo is as vibrant as ever,” Lindley Richards, Judkins' assistant, said. “We’re looking forward to those partnerships.”
In the years since the series ended, its social media pages have become a digital scrapbook of gratitude and nostalgia, filled with summer-soaked memories and even stories of couples who met their future spouse at a Friday night concert.
“(The rooftop concerts) have been the drumbeat that keeps the Provo music scene marching,” one concert-goer commented after the very last concert on Sept. 6, 2019.
Judkins described the concerts as a time when college students, local families, retired seniors and even out-of-town visitors would come together to enjoy a free night of music.
“These concerts bring people from all over the city together into one place,” Judkins said. “It brings an energy and a vibe to the city. We’re doing things in Provo, and we’re doing things together.”